Playing against Kolkata will be special: Unadkat

Young left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat had a huge shoe to fill in the absence of Zaheer Khan for Bangalore's first few games but the bowled did a reasonably good job by bowling at a fair economy rate despite not having too many wickets to speak for his efforts.

The Saurashtra quick said he has learnt a lot from Zaheer and his presence in the dressing room has been immensely helpful.

"Personally, I have really gained a lot having him around. Right from the first match, I go and speak to him before every match about how I should plan to bowl on a particular wicket and conditions. For a youngster like me, or any other pacer in the team for that matter, his presence is helping," Unadkat said at the pre-match press conference.

Zaheer, who has been struggling with a side strain, is training a lot to regain fitness according to Unadkat, who hoped that the experienced left-armer will be in action soon.

"I don't know at what recovery stage he is but he's really working out and training a lot. So, perhaps, he'll be playing soon," he said.

The pacer, who is set to play against his former franchise Kolkata, said the faith shown in him by the captain and the coach has given him a tremendous boost.

"It really boosts my confidence to know that the captain and coach have the confidence in me that I will do well on the field. We have been strategising about how to go about in the matches," Unadkat said.

"It's going to be special. For the first time I'll be playing against Kolkata. Up until now, for me the Indian T20 had always been Kolkata," Unadkat added.

Unadkat, who did not get to play too many games for Kolkata in the previous season, said it was difficult for him to watch on the sidelines while waiting for an opportunity.

"I passed through that phase during the last IPL season with KKR when I didn't get to play many games. I was just sitting out and working on my strength and bowling. It is difficult, it's not easy to sit outside and watch others play while waiting for your opportunity,"

While mentioning that the team has planned well for the all the games so far, Unadkat said the execution cannot always be a 100 percent in every match.

"If you see the wickets that we have played on, the ball comes along nicely to the bat. We have done everything, watching the videos and planning and all. When it comes to the execution, we cannot be 100 per cent in any match, we can be near 100 per cent. If two hard-hitting batsmen are there and if our plans don't work, then it can be stressful on that day."

"The seniors like Zak bhai (Zaheer Khan) have been working on all these aspects. We will improve as the matches come along," Unadkat mentioned.